Off-field issues add to Pakistan’s WC woes

The Pakistan women’s cricket team is going through a harrowing time on the field in the Women’s T20 World Cup in England, and to make matters worse, reports have emerged about disagreements and a tense environment in the squad.

Although the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has neither denied nor confirmed them, several posts and reports on social and mainstream media suggest problems within the team.

Pakistan suffered its fourth straight defeat in the World Cup against Australia on Tuesday night at Leeds. Since landing in Ireland before the mega event, the team has yet to win a single match, and they were also winless in the triangular series they played against Ireland and West Indies prior to the tournament.

Last year also Pakistan finished at the bottom of the points table in the ICC 50-overs World Cup in India and Sri Lanka where the team played all its games in Sri Lanka.

Reports say that the there was a big disagreement between team mentor and unofficial head coach, Wahab Riaz, and captain Fatima Sana over selection matters.

Before the match against Bangladesh, Sana objected to the husband of senior player, Aaliya Riaz, staying in her room in the team hotel.

It was on Sana’s insistence that Ali Younis was asked to vacate the room. Then, on the day before the game against Bangladesh, Aaliya and her husband went out for sightseeing when there was a team practice scheduled,” one report said.

Apparently, when the playing XI for the Bangladesh match was being finalized, Sana wanted Aaliya out, but Wahab insisted on her selection. After Pakistan lost the game and Aaliya failed, Sana pointedly told Wahab in front of everyone that he was responsible for the defeat, as he had not adhered to the necessary disciplinary protocols.

Reports have also talked about groupings within the team and strained relations between some senior players and the coaches. The coaches are unhappy that whatever plans they give to the players are not executed in matches.

Ironically, this is not the first time such reports about problems within the Pakistan team have emerged. Even when the men’s team failed to perform in the 2023 and 2024 ICC World Cups, similar stories about a strained dressing room environment surfaced, some of which were later confirmed as true.

Over the last 3-4 years, the PCB has constantly changed the head coaches of the women’s team, with the revolving door including foreign coaches like Mark Coles, alongside various local coaches and staff such as Junaid Khan, Basit Ali Basit Ali, Saleem Jaffar, and Mohtashim Rasheed, among others.